Stage company season includes three premieres

Three world premieres and an American classic are part of the Virginia Stage Company's lineup of plays for 2011-2012.

The season will open Sept. 13 with "Aesop & Company," a world premiere musical featuring music by John McMahon and lyrics by Jay Jeffries. It's being described as a "screwball musical comedy about the life of Aesop that the storybooks were afraid to tell you."

"The Women in Black," another premiere show adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill, will play Oct. 18 through Nov. 6. In this "ghost play," a lawyer settling the affairs of a solitary widow finds the woman's presence bleeds through from the next life.

"Black Pearl Sings!" by Frank Higgins will fill the January-February, 2012, slot. The musical brings together an African-American woman who's a storehouse of spirituals and folk songs and a Library of Congress song collector.

Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," which will play Feb. 21-March 11, 2012, traces salesman Willy Loman and his quest for the "American Dream."

Finally, "The Comfort Team" by Deborah Brevoort, another world premiere production, tells of five military spouses whose lives are interwoven with the nation and its defense. The show will play March 27-April 15, 2012.

As in past seasons, "A Christmas Carol" will be mounted during the holiday season. The Charles Dickens classic is not part of the subscription series.

The stage company performs in the Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk.

Subscriptions are priced from $160 to $210. Subscriptions to the three preview performances also are available for $90. Subscribers also can chose anytime passes priced from $168 to $270. Call 627-1234 for subscription information.